


Fright Night

by WindChimeGhost



Category: Ghostbusters (Movies 1984-1989), The Real Ghostbusters
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ecto-1 - Freeform, Gen, Ghosts, Halloween, Horror, Humor, Monster - Freeform, Monsters, October, Snakes, fright - Freeform, ghost - Freeform, snake - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 17:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindChimeGhost/pseuds/WindChimeGhost
Summary: After a ghost escapes from the containment unit, the Ghostbusters experience a horrifying Halloween they’ll never forget!





	Fright Night

**Author's Note:**

> ~ Comments are welcomed. But critique is not desired ~
> 
> I fell into The Real Ghostbusters series this summer, so I had to try my hand at writing a few fics for it. =D This is my first fic for it, and I’m still trying to get the feel of the characters, so please ignore any inaccuracies.
> 
> Being a child of the 80’s/90’s, Ghostbusters is something I feel like I grew up with without actually watching or being a part of it. Can’t believe I haven’t gotten into it before now! Love it so much!
> 
>  
> 
> The Real Ghostbusters and all related characters © Columbia Pictures/DiC
> 
> Fanfic and plot ©2018 by me (please do not take, use, or edit without permission)

“Trick or treat!” the group of kids shouted in cheerful unison while holding out their treat bags and buckets.

Janine passed out candy to each of them as she commented on their costumes, slipping a few extra pieces to the one dressed like a ghostbuster. She put in a few more pieces when she saw his costume was the color of Egon’s suit.

When the goodies were done being passed out, and the kids were happily on their way to the next house, she closed the door and returned to her desk. She set down the candy bowl. Catching a glimpse of Slimer eyeing it, she frowned and decided to pick it up and cradle it in her arms instead, ignoring the disappointed mumbling the green ghost made.

“Ow! Watch it, Ray!”

“I’m sorry!”

Janine turned around and looked in the direction of the Ghostbusters.

All four men were currently busy investigating the return air vent in the wall nearest to her. Peter and Ray were on hands and knees, their heads hidden within the vent’s enclosure, the light of their flashlight reflecting off the metal surface. Egon stood nearby, his eyes glued to the screen of his P.K.E. meter. Winston bent forward, trying to steal a look over Peter and Ray’s shoulders, the gun of his proton pack armed and ready.

It certainly wasn’t the way any of them planned to spend Halloween. Janine had hoped to have a small party at the firehouse for all of them, snack foods and a scary movie included. But things took a different turn that week.

Two days prior, the ghost containment unit sprang a leak, releasing one of the ghosts. According to Egon, the ghost never left the firehouse, but was, instead, holed up somewhere in the air ducts…or so they thought. So far, they hadn’t been able to locate the exact whereabouts of it, even with the P.K.E. meter. Its location kept fluctuating, fading in and out, which was…weird. It was as if the ghost was somehow unstable. Perhaps it was damaged when it seeped out of the containment unit? Was that even possible? In this line of business, you eventually get to a point where you no longer question things. You just roll with it whenever something new comes your way.

Janine peered at the table set up on the other side of her desk. Sandwiches and other finger foods were neatly displayed across the top of its orange and black tablecloth.

The party will have to wait a little while longer, she thought.

Peter pulled out his arm, grunting in frustration as he twisted into a more comfortable position before crawling farther into the vent. “I don’t think it’s in here, Egon. I don’t see any slime residue or hear any weird noises.”

“How can you hear anything with all the noise you’ve been making?” Ray said irritably.

“Keep looking,” was Egon’s only reply.

BANG!

“OUCH!” Peter fell backward and landed on his rear after hitting his head on the duct’s ceiling. He winced and rubbed out the pain in both his head and butt.

“What’s wrong this time?” Ray asked, annoyed. He came out of the vent, flashlight in hand.

“I saw a spider.”

“I thought it was roaches you don’t like.”

“Roaches AND spiders.” Peter frowned. “So I don’t like anything crawly. Sue me.”

Ignoring him, Ray turned to Egon. “Face it, Egon, we struck out again. I was positive it was in this one.”

“We all thought it was,” said Winston. “I’ve never seen a ghost like this. We hear the noises at night. We even see the blip on the P.K.E. meter, but then it’s like…it’s just gone. Poof!”

Egon’s face scrunched up in contemplation while he studied his meter. Everyone knew by now that the ghost had Egon confused, and that was rare.

Without taking his eyes off his meter, Egon said, “My question is: why is it still inside the firehouse? It had a chance to escape, but it didn’t. Why? There’s got to be a logical reason for it.”

“Does everything have to have a reason?” Peter asked. “This is a ghost we’re talking about. Last time I checked, there are no reasons for half the stuff they do.”

Everyone briefly glanced toward the party table and the disgusting, horrible noise coming from there, only to see Slimer shoving plates of sandwiches into his mouth. Then he gobbled up the Jack-o-Lantern setting in the middle before burping loudly.

Janine sighed and tightened her grip on her candy bowl.

“My point proven,” Peter added with a smirk.

“Hey, guys! It’s back!” Egon announced. “I’ve got a reading.”

“Great! Where is it?” Winston readied his proton gun. They weren’t allowed to use their proton packs inside the headquarters, but Egon decided to let it slide this once. They needed to get this ghost back into the containment unit pronto as it was fast growing into a nuisance. It wasn’t one of the overly bad ghosts, thank goodness. It was only a Class 3. In fact, it was one of the unknown ones—a ghost they haven’t had a chance to really study.

Egon remained silent, moving his meter up the wall, to the ceiling. “It’s moving. I think it’s in the wall…no, the ceiling.”

“That would put it around our bedroom, right?” Ray said, his eyes moving upward.

“Wrong,” Peter said. “It’s coming down the pole.”

“How do you know?”

Peter pointed. “Because I can see it.”

Everyone snapped their heads around, mouths dropping open when their eyes landed on the large, fluffy, pink blob squeezing through the hole at the top of the fireman’s pole.

A shriek came out of Slimer.

Janine backed away to hide behind her desk.

“Steady, men,” Egon whispered. “Winston, get ready. We don’t know how hostile this ghost is. Peter, have that trap ready.”

“Already on it,” Peter replied.

The ghost popped out into the open and floated near the ceiling. It didn’t look all that threatening—just a ginormous round blob of pink fur with horns sticking out of its head, and a mouth full of jagged teeth. It yawned and acted as if the Ghostbusters weren’t even there.

Winston fired a proton beam at it, easily snaring it.

“I got it!” Winston shouted excitedly. “Peter, throw out the trap.”

The ghost let out a startled, almost pained, scream and jerked to get away, but it was too late. It was already caught in the energy stream, being pulled downward.

But something was wrong.

Egon realized it too late because everything happened so fast.

The ghost started inflating like a balloon—growing larger and larger and rounder the longer it stayed in the stream.

Then it let out one last agonized shriek…and exploded.

A surprised cry erupted from the Ghostbusters, Janine, and Slimer as all of them threw up their arms to shield their faces.

A curious purple powder rained down around them, covering everything and everyone.

Ray, Winston, and Egon choked on the stuff and coughed to try and clear their lungs.

Peter sneezed.

“Blarbbbubugggh! Yuck!” Slimer said, brushing himself off.

“Ooooooh, this is nasty!” Peter griped, shaking the dust from his clothes. “Not as nasty as slime, but it still ranks a close second.”

“Can someone please tell me WHAT just happened?” Winston finally got out between coughing.

“Yeah, what IS this stuff??” said Ray.

“I-I’m not sure,” Egon admitted. “It’s a new one. I’ll take a sample of it to analyze later.”

“In the meantime, let’s clean up this mess!” Winston was already reaching for a broom.

“Forget the room,” said Peter, walking to the stairs. “I’m going to go take a good, long shower.”

“He’ll do anything to get out of chores,” said Janine, finally crawling out from under the desk. She sneezed when she got a nose-full of the ghost’s powder.

The team spent thirty minutes cleaning up the powder before coming to the realization that they would probably be finding traces of it for the next three years.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The heavy pounding noise sounded from above and moved toward the top of the staircase.

“What the heck is that now?” Winston asked, looking up. Everyone followed his gaze, looking up, too.

Before one of them had a chance to speak, the answer to his question came in the form of Peter running down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, almost slipping a couple times. He appeared at the last step, dripping wet and wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Suddenly remembering Janine was in the room, he let out a yelp and attempted covering himself with his arms, as if that would help. When the action failed, he repositioned his towel, making sure it covered the crucial areas.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen…well…a ghost.” said Ray.

“I think I just did,” Peter gasped out. “Egon, are you sure that pink fluff ball was the only ghost that escaped the unit?”

“Yeah…why do you ask?”

“Because I just saw a skeleton crawl out of the toilet! I’m going to hazard a guess and say that isn’t normal, even on Halloween.”

The other busters exchanged glances, not liking this news at all. They were all looking forward to rest and food after the last of the powder was swept up.

Egon set aside his broom and pulled out his P.K.E. meter, checking it over. “Hm…I’m not getting any unusual readings. Are you sure that’s what you saw?”

“I’m sure!” Peter squeaked. “Why else would I run down here, naked and wet?” Afterward, his face flushed when he realized what he’d said. He glanced at Janine, who was keeping busy sweeping with her back to him. “Uh…don’t answer that.”

“Well, whatever it was is gone now, apparently, because I’m not picking up signs of supernatural activity from anywhere inside the firehouse. Completely negative.”

Peter looked dumbfounded.

“Really, I’m not,” Egon insisted as if Peter thought he was lying.

Peter returned to his shower, and the rest of the team finished cleaning the garage and offices. From that point on, no one spoke of the skeleton incident again. And there were no more sightings or interruptions, leaving the whole team to believe that whatever Peter saw had to be connected to the lack of sleep they were all suffering from after the horrible week they just went through.

Later that night, everyone met upstairs to spend what was left of the evening in front of the TV, with food and a movie, just like Janine wanted. Then it was bedtime for everyone except Janine, who volunteered to stay late and get caught up on records.

In the bunkroom, Ray lay in the dark, staring forward at the railing at the top of the fireman’s pole across from him. The full moon outside filtered in through the window, making the gold metal glisten.

The room was far from quiet, though. He could hear Peter and Winston snoring, and Egon mumbling some scientific equation in his sleep. Slimer smacked his lips and slurped, no doubt dreaming of food, as usual.

Ray put a pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the noise. As he continued to lie awake, a heavy feeling of dread washed over him, like he and his teammates weren’t the only ones in the room.

He shuddered and hugged his Stay Puft Man plushie tighter. He wasn’t sure why he felt so afraid. It wasn’t like him.

A noise reached his ears—something like a metallic ‘ping’. He peeked out from under his pillow and looked toward the fire pole railing.

He gasped.

The railing rippled and came unhinged, rearing back in a snake-like manner. And true to its actions, it started taking on the form of a snake—piercing red eyes and a gaping mouth with long fangs. It hissed and lunged forward.

Ray screamed out, scrambling backward and falling out of bed. He got tangled in his bedcovers and tried to fight his way out.

A light came on and flooded the room.

“What was that?” Egon’s voice was the first to be heard.

“Ray? Ray! Are you all right, man?” Winston asked. He got out of bed to stand beside the large lump at his feet. Ray punched the cloth and tried frantically to find his way out of it.

“Help!” he finally shouted in a muffled voice. “Get me out of this thing!”

Winston helped him get untangled.

“What happened?” It was Peter who asked the question. He, Egon, and Slimer were now gathered around Winston as all three of them waited for Ray to speak.

“I-I-I don’t know,” Ray said. He glanced at the railing. In the artificial light, it looked normal—a metal railing again, like it should be. He couldn’t understand it. “I was laying here in bed, trying to go to sleep, and…and…that railing over there…” The other men looked in the direction Ray pointed. “It came alive, like a snake. And it…came at me.”

Winston gave his friend a sidelong concerned look like he secretly thought Ray had lost his mind.

“Great.” Peter sighed. “I see skeletons coming out of toilets and you see snakes. What next?”

“Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” said Egon. “People can experience what is known as hypnagogic hallucinations right before slipping into the state of sleep.”

“English, Egon.”

“That _was_ English, Peter. There’s no other name for it.”

“Positive. I hadn’t even closed my eyes! No thanks to you bunch.” Ray shot a glare at Peter and then to Winston.

“Hey! What did _I_ do?” Peter put his hands on his chest, looking innocent.

“Your snoring sounds like feeding time at a hog farm.”

Egon grabbed up his P.K.E. meter and switched it on, swiping the length of the room with it. “I’m still not picking up traces of activity. My meter still reads negative.”

“I know what I saw!” Ray protested as if Egon’s negative readings were trying to prove him wrong. “Peter’s skeleton, my snake…it can’t be a coincidence.”

“No one’s saying you didn’t see something, Ray,” Egon continued. “If there _is_ something in here, it’s lying so low I can’t pick it up.”

Slimer cowered, glancing around the room while mumbling something incoherent in his signature babble. He moved closer to Peter.

“I suggest we all get back in bed,” said Winston, yawning. “Maybe whatever it is is gone for good this time.”

“I’ll keep my meter nearby, just in case,” Egon said.

Everyone returned to their beds, and the light was turned out. The room was, for a time, engulfed in silence after the men got settled again. Then a faint snore was heard coming from Peter’s bed.

Egon lay awake with one hand on his meter. He looked across the room at Ray’s bed, then he glanced beyond that toward the fireman’s pole. He couldn’t help thinking about the incident—pondering over it. Ray was right. It had to be more than a coincidence. But why wasn’t he picking up anything on his meter?

He moved and pulled his arms out from under the covers, turning the meter’s knobs. He pointed the device toward the corner.

Nothing. Not even a blip.

A creak met his ears. It could have been the building. The firehouse was old, after all. And all old buildings and houses make weird creaking noises.

But that’s not what it was.

Another creak sounded, this time louder, closer. It was the unmistakable sound of something moving. It let out a low moan and a sigh.

As much as he hated admitting it even to himself, Egon felt his heart begin to race. Fear swelled up inside him, and a cold sweat beaded on his face. He didn’t know why. Trembling, his hands shakily moved over his meter, adjusting it to take a reading. Still, nothing showed.

And this caused more fear to wash over him.

What if it was something undetectable? It was a thought he’d always had and secretly kept in the back of his mind so as not to alarm his friends. He knew there would probably be a day when they ran across something not even their equipment could detect, which is why he was trying his best to create a better, more reliable P.K.E. meter for the future.

Something told him the future is now.

More creaks. This time they sounded very close—behind him, even.

Whatever it was could be paranormal, not supernatural—some hideous creature from another dimension. But that still didn’t explain why he wasn’t picking it up. His meter was equipped to pick up anything related to both the paranormal and supernatural.

Egon swallowed, his breath quickened. Slowly, he turned around to look behind him.

The only things there were the table and chairs, silhouetted by the curtained window behind them.

As Egon stared, one of the chairs moved! It bent forward like a cat stretching. All the while, the sickening creaking of wood was heard.

Egon’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened behind his glasses.

It couldn’t be. It was impossible! Right?

He swung his meter around, but whatever it was still wasn’t registering as being anything related to supernatural _or_ paranormal activity.

The chair heard his movements and turned in his direction. It uttered a low growl.

“This isn’t happening…” Egon mumbled under his breath. “What _are_ you?”

The chair leaped forward. Egon fell backward and threw his meter at the repulsive thing, making a loud clatter that woke up Winston.

“What now?” he said sleepily. “Egon?”

“Over here, Winston.” Egon threw back his covers and stood up, blindly making his way to the chair in the dark. The light of the meter’s screen guided him.

Winston got out of bed to join him. “Egon, what are you doing?” he whispered.

“The chair…” The blond man pointed toward the piece of furniture. Winston looked at it. Egon’s meter was lying on the floor on the other side of it.

But it was just a normal chair. It didn’t move, didn’t make a sound.

Winston threw a questioning look to Egon. “So? It’s just a chair.”

“But it moved. It even growled at me.” Egon looked to Winston. “And I still couldn’t get it to register on my meter.”

“Does that mean we’re all going insane?”

“I hope not.” Egon bent over and picked up his meter. “There’s got to be some logical explanation for it. If I could just…figure out what that explanation is.”

A piercing scream came from downstairs—Janine’s voice. Everyone flew out of bed and slid down the fireman’s pole.

“Janine!” Egon shouted. “What—” His words were cut off when the Ecto-1 swung around to face them.

“Holy Shinola!” Peter exclaimed loudly, jumping back.

The ambulance slash hearse had sprouted two angry eyes where its headlights should have been and a mouth full of dagger-like teeth and a massive tongue under its hood. It snapped at them, rolling forward.

Janine was in the process of throwing random objects at it—whatever she could get her hands on.

The men were speechless as they huddled together around the base of the pole. All were scared to make a move seeing as how they were without their proton packs.

When she ran out of things to throw, Janine climbed on top of the filing cabinets. Of all nights she chose to work late!

Slowly, Ray reached over and wrapped his fingers around the handle of the broom propped against the wall beside him. With a yell, he sprinted forward and whacked Ecto-1 on the hood with it.

“Down, girl!” he said. He hit the car again, and then a third time. “Bad girl!”

“Ray!” Egon called. “Ray, stop!”

Ray looked up, blinking. “Huh?” He turned back to Ecto-1…which looked like it normally did: just an inanimate car. There were no teeth, no eyes, and no tongue.

He wasn’t sure what to make of it as he let go of the broom. It clattered on the floor at his feet.

They exchanged looks.

“What’s going on?” Winston asked. “Can someone explain to me what is going on? Are we all losing our minds or what? All of you DID see that, right? It’s not just me?”

“My only explanation is that we’re dealing with some kind of ghost that can’t be detected by the P.K.E. meter—a shape-changing poltergeist type, most likely, seeing that it _is_ playing with us and taking on various forms. They’re natural tricksters of the supernatural world who enjoy causing chaos.”

“But why isn’t it registering as that?” Ray asked.

“I don’t know.” Egon thought a moment before continuing. “Unless it was also damaged when it seeped from the containment unit, the same as the pink fluffy ghost. There could have been two to come out.”

“Could it really be so badly damaged that it fails to register on our meter?” Peter asked.

“Possibly,” Egon replied. “It’s hard to say. This is the first time I’ve ever encountered something of this nature.”

“That makes four of us,” Winston said.

At that moment, Slimer came oozing through the ceiling.

“BABA! Blllleeegughaa! Na na! Blblblbblblblb!” he frantically babbled in gibberish, his eyes wide. He was pointing upstairs.

“What is it, Slimer?” Winston asked.

“Bllllllbub beee!” the green ghost squealed.

“He’s trying to tell us he was chased by a giant hamburger with teeth,” Ray translated.

“Yeah! Yeah! Hamwurber!” Slimer said, nodding. He made a snarling, angry face, mimicking the thing he saw.

Egon and Winston looked at each other, Egon arching an eyebrow.

Janine screamed again. All eyes turned to her, then they followed what she was pointing at.

A large raven-winged skull came swooping down at them from the rafters. Oddly enough, it made no sound.

The Ghostbusters scattered. They dived and rolled for the closets on the other side of Ecto-1, wrenching the doors open and grabbing the proton packs stored there.

“I know we shouldn’t use these inside, but I don’t see that we have much choice,” Egon said while he secured his pack in place on his back.

“At this point, I’m willing to take the risk,” Peter droned out. “Anything, if it means us getting back to sleep!” He fired a proton stream at the skull, which was in the process of coming around to make another pass at them. The stream went right through it, the skull coming out unfazed. It continued to fly until it disappeared into the wall over the closets.

“Did you guys see that?” Ray said excitedly. “It passed right through the beam!”

“What kinda horror IS this thing?” Winston marveled.

The floor under them buckled and rolled, throwing them off their feet.

“Whoa!” Egon grunted, right before he was thrown back against the front door. Peter fell forward toward Janine’s desk. And Ray and Winston fell into the side of Ecto-1.

“HEY! What gives?” Peter’s voice sounded out. He looked up to see the ceiling literally melting down on top of him. He threw up his hands to shield his face.

But that’s not what the others saw.

Ray grasped tightly to the side of Ecto-1 as the floor caved in on itself inches from his feet, a deep cavern opening up right in the center of the room that stretched down to a black bottomless pit.

Egon scrambled to his feet and snatched up the fire extinguisher, spraying white foam over the surrounding area, hitting Winston in the face.

“Hey!” he shouted annoyingly.

“The place…it’s, it’s on fire!” Egon shouted. “Everyone get out of here!”

“What are you talking about? The place isn’t on fire. The place is coming apart at the seams! Peter, look out! There’s a huge beam coming your way!”

Winston staggered forward, waving his arms over his head in an attempt to get Peter’s attention. Finally, Peter turned around just in time to see the beam and duck out of the way.

Ray screeched at the top of his lungs, his eyes growing wide at seeing the enormous creature crawling up the side of the cavern beside him. It was black, shapeless, and covered in eyes.

He fumbled, finally wrapping his fingers around his proton gun. He pulled it up and fired. The beam passed through the creature. It rippled and disappeared in the blink of an eye. And so did the cavern from which it came.

Ray blinked in confusion as he stared down at the massive hole in the floor…that had been made by him firing his proton gun.

The incident helped to distract Egon, who was still battling the fire he swore was engulfing the building. He also shouted something about some kind of fire demon moving about in the flames. The blond scientist turned, blinked, and looked down at the smoldering hole Ray had made. Then he was surprised to see that the firehouse wasn’t burning down. Lowering his extinguisher, he gawked at Peter in front of him.

Everything was back to normal, and everyone was struggling to get a grip on what just happened.

A loud, resounding clang echoed when the fire extinguisher slipped from Egon’s hand. He dropped to his knees, visibly relieved…and not caring who saw him.

Just when they thought things couldn’t get worse, the whole place began to shake. The floor rippled in waves, like a roiling sea. The Ghostbusters staggered toward the fireman’s pole and held on.

“W-w-w-what now?!” Ray shouted.

“I’d rather not know!” Peter shouted back.

Suddenly, a deafening crash was heard, and the front of the firehouse was thrust inward, splinters and large pieces of wood flying in all directions. In its place, there was a huge head of some unidentifiable creature. Its dark green head, which was the only part visible due to its enormous size, looked like a dragon for the most part, but it didn’t have any eyes.

The creature moved forward, jutting its head farther into the room. It opened its mouth and let out a piercing caw-like screech.

“I just wet my pants…” Peter said in a small voice.

“Too much information, man,” said Winston.

Ray put a hand over Peter’s mouth and shushed him.

“It’s not like he doesn’t know we’re here,” Peter said, his voice muffled.

Winston took out his proton gun, aimed, and fired at the creature. Just as before, the beam went right through it.

“Why isn’t it working?”

Egon scrunched up his brow, thinking hard. Then he reached out and pinched Winston’s hand.

“Ow! What was that for?”

Egon didn’t reply. Instead, he moved on, pinching both Ray and Peter, earning an irritated response from each man. Then he pinched himself.

Quick as a flash, the firehouse was back to normal. The only damages were the two holes made by their proton beams: one in the floor and one over the front door.

There was no huge creature that destroyed the front of the building.

Silence.

They turned to face Janine, who was looking back at them, stunned. Oddly enough, none of them remembered seeing her a few seconds ago, when the creature attacked. But then again, their focus had been on the creature.

“Have you been here this whole time?” Ray asked.

“Of course I have. After the flying skull disappeared, I’ve been standing here watching you four idiots have a nervous breakdown over nothing. What did you see, anyway?”

The busters exchanged puzzled glances with each other.

“You mean…you didn’t see the creature break through the front of the building?” said Egon.

Janine shook her head. “No.”

While Peter, Winston, and Ray talked among themselves, Egon thought long and hard, trying to put pieces together. He studied the room, the damage, and the items scattered everywhere from them trying to defend themselves from dangers that hadn’t been there to begin with.

“Guys! I was wrong! This isn’t the work of an apparition,” Egon suddenly said aloud.

The others looked at him.

“What?” said Peter.

“We’re alone. We’ve been alone this entire time.”

“If not a ghost, then what?” Winston said.

“We’ve been hallucinating.”

The others stared.

“None of this has been real!” Egon repeated in different words. “I don’t know how, but it must have been caused by that powder from the pink ghost. It’s the only explanation. All of us, including Slimer, were covered with it or inhaled it. One way or another, it has hallucinogenic and fear enhancing capabilities.”

“Makes sense,” Ray agreed. “That would definitely explain why we can’t pick it up on the meter.”

“Precisely!”

“And why our beams go right through them,” Winston added.

“So what’s the cure?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know if there is one. We might have to wait for the effects to wear off naturally.”

“How long we talkin’?” Winston asked.

“I don’t know,” Egon admitted, sounding frustrated. He looked to each of his friends. “I suggest we go back to bed and try to get some sleep. If we’re asleep, the effects might not be as powerful.”

Peter yawned. “Sounds good to me.”

“I don’t know if I can sleep after what we just saw,” said Ray.

“Yeah, even if it wasn’t real, how can anyone sleep after experiencing all this?” Winston added.

“We need to try,” Egon clapped the two men on the shoulders.

The Ghostbusters headed upstairs to their bunkroom. It didn’t take long for Peter to fall asleep again. Within minutes, the young man was out like a light and snoring away. Ray and Winston, on the other hand, huddled under the covers for a while before sleep finally overcame them.

Egon was the last. He lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, P.K.E. meter gripped tightly in one hand. The longer he lay there, the more his eyes began to droop.

A half hour passed without any more interruptions. Everything was quiet—so much so that he wondered if the effects of the ghost’s powder had already worn off.

Slowly he released his meter and turned over, pulling the cover up to his chin. Then, he heard it.

_Creeeeeeeeeak_

The low, mournful sound of a door’s hinges loudly echoed through the bunkroom.

Instead of being afraid this time, Egon’s brow furrowed in annoyance. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he now knew that whatever horrors he would see weren’t real.

He sat up in bed…and gasped.

Directly in front of him, peering out of Winston’s closet was the Boogieman! The creature pushed the door open wider, stepping forward and poking his overly large, grotesque head through the doorway to grin at Egon with a mouthful of jagged fangs.

“It’s not real,” Egon whispered. “It’s not real.”

“Egoooooon,” The Boogieman called in his raspy, airy voice.

“No!” Egon cried out. “You aren’t real!”

The Boogieman stepped through the closet door, his cloven-hoofed feet clonking noisily on the wood floor.

“No! S-s-s-stay back! You aren’t real! You’re just a hallucinogenic manifestation brought on by the ghost’s powder.” He wasn’t sure why he said all that out loud to himself, but it felt good to do.

The Boogieman wasn’t real, was it?

“SOMEONE HELP ME!” Ray’s voice met Egon’s ears. He turned to see the floor around the door breaking apart and collapsing, inching its way toward Ray’s bed. The red-haired man was frantically trying to scramble out of bed to get to safety.

By now, Winston and Peter were awake, both taken back by what was happening around them.

Ray’s shouting broke Egon’s concentration. When he looked back to the closet, the Boogieman was gone. He shook his head and jumped out of bed to join Ray’s side.

“RAY!” he shouted. “Ray, it isn’t real, remember? It’s just an illusion—a hallucination.”

“I know that, but tell it to the floor!” Ray scrambled out of Egon’s hold and ran to the other end of the room. Egon’s eyes widened as he stared forward at the floor. It continued to disintegrate, caving in on itself. It reached Ray’s bed, swallowing it down into black nothingness.

Despite himself, Egon turned and joined his friends, all four of them pressing against the far window.

“It’s not real,” Egon reassured everyone.

“I wish you’d stop saying that,” Peter groaned. “My eyes are having a hard time believing that right now.”

As they looked on, they saw the head of a ginormous two-headed snake come up out of the floor. Its blood red scales glistened like rubies in the light of the rising sun.

Then it wailed in agony and writhed about as if it were in pain. It hissed and backed away into the dark hole it came from.

The room rippled and, just like that, everything was normal again. The floor was as it should be—intact. Ray’s bed was back in its proper place. The air was quiet. The outside sounds of early morning met the Ghostbusters’ ears.

“Uh…what just happened?” Peter blinked in surprise. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Just curious.”

“The effects of the powder must have finally worn off,” Ray breathed out. He slid down to sit on the floor.

Egon looked toward the window on his right. “The sunlight is the cure! Of course!” Egon smiled. “Everything looks less scary in the light.”

“That actually makes sense,” said Winston, returning the smile. “When we’re scared as kids, we leave the light on. It gives sort of an odd comfort that monsters won’t get us.”

“Exactly!”

“That’s good,” Peter yawned. “Now, can you tell Janine to hold all our calls? I Want to sleep the rest of the day.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Winston said with a yawn.

 

-The End


End file.
